“…Sony‘s latest gamble … a bookshelf stereo system called the CMT-L7HD. (All right, so Sony ran out of ideas when it came time to name this thing.) Its ingenious mission is to bring the convenience of digital music files to an everyday bookshelf system — without requiring a computer.
“Every time you play a CD, the machine automatically copies its tracks onto its built-in 20-gigabyte hard drive. (If time is of the essence, you can also dump an entire CD to the hard drive in 20 minutes using a silent copying mode.) Thereafter, you can play back those songs without having to insert the original CD. The hard drive holds 300 CD’s worth of music, turning this handsome unit into a self-contained jukebox.
“Now, stackable stereo components that copy CD’s to an internal hard drive aren’t new. Sony’s twist is to build this feature into a self-contained, bookshelf-size mini stereo with detachable speakers (and even an optional mounting bracket for the wall). Furthermore, those earlier machines don’t even approach the L7HD’s sound quality or fashion sense — or high price. The suggested list price for the L7HD is $1,000…
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